{"id":729856,"date":"2020-07-29T11:44:03","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T09:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.milk-food.de\/material-lab\/material\/styrofoam-decomposing-mealworms\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T15:27:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:27:03","slug":"styrofoam-decomposing-mealworms","status":"publish","type":"material","link":"https:\/\/www.milk-food.de\/en\/insights\/materials\/styrofoam-decomposing-mealworms\/","title":{"rendered":"Mealworms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-kunststoff-fressende-orga-nismen\">Plastic-eating organisms<\/h1>\n    <section class=\"info-slider alignfull\"\n             style=\"--items-per-row:2;\"  data-component=\"slider\" data-gap=\"0\" data-loop=\"\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n            <div class=\"slider__container swiper\">\n                <div class=\"slider__slides swiper-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t                        <div class=\"slider__slide swiper-slide theme--dark\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"teaser-format-contained teaser-format-contained--size-square\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.milk-food.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/MILK-MaterialLab-Mehlwu\u0308rmer-Frauenhofer-Institut-2-1000x1000.jpg\" class=\"teaser-format-contained__image\" alt=\"MILK MaterialLab Mehlw\u00fcrmer Frauenhofer Institut\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.milk-food.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/MILK-MaterialLab-Mehlwu\u0308rmer-Frauenhofer-Institut-2-1000x1000.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.milk-food.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/MILK-MaterialLab-Mehlwu\u0308rmer-Frauenhofer-Institut-2-480x480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.milk-food.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/MILK-MaterialLab-Mehlwu\u0308rmer-Frauenhofer-Institut-2-720x720.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/div>\n                        <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t                        <div class=\"slider__slide swiper-slide theme--dark\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"teaser-format-contained teaser-format-contained--size-square\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.milk-food.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/MILK-MaterialLab-Mehlwu\u0308rmer-Frauenhofer-Institut-3-1000x1000.jpg\" class=\"teaser-format-contained__image\" alt=\"MILK MaterialLab Mehlw\u00fcrmer Frauenhofer Institut\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.milk-food.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/MILK-MaterialLab-Mehlwu\u0308rmer-Frauenhofer-Institut-3-1000x1000.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.milk-food.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/MILK-MaterialLab-Mehlwu\u0308rmer-Frauenhofer-Institut-3-480x480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.milk-food.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/MILK-MaterialLab-Mehlwu\u0308rmer-Frauenhofer-Institut-3-720x720.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/div>\n                        <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t                        <div class=\"slider__slide swiper-slide theme--dark\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- Teaser #729856 not shown due to image missing. -->                        <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n\n\t\t\t                            <div class=\"theme--dark\">\n                    <div class=\"slider__button-prev swiper-button-prev theme--dark\"><\/div>\n                    <div class=\"slider__button-next swiper-button-next theme--dark\"><\/div>\n                <\/div>\n            \n\t\t\t             <div class=\"slider__scrollbar swiper-scrollbar\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t    <\/section>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-styropor-zersetzende-mehl-wurmer\">Styrofoam decomposing mealworms<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While mealworms normally feed on wheat bran, biologists at <em>Stanford University <\/em>and <em>Peking University<\/em> have given them polystyrene &#8211; a form of plastic foam &#8211; instead. Mostly, this material is used for polystyrene packaging, yogurt pots or cable insulation. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a test experiment, the worms ate the material completely &#8211; approx. 40 mg per worm. This is because the yield of<sub>CO2<\/sub> and excrement is absolutely non-toxic, biodegradable and can also be used as biomass. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the one-month test series, the (invertebrate) animal welfare is maintained despite the harmful plasticizers and stabilizers. In 2020, another research team succeeded in isolating the intestinal bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa from the larvae, which is believed to be responsible for the degradation process through the production of a hydrolase enzyme. However, years of research will be needed before such organisms and their digestive enzymes can be used in waste recycling.  <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-sans-serif wp-block-paragraph\">Product name:<strong> <strong><strong><strong>Styrofoam decomposing mealworms<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><br\/><\/strong>Producer:<strong> <strong><strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.deutschlandfunknova.de\/beitrag\/plastik-mehlwuermer-verdauen-muell\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Frauenhofer Institute<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><br\/>Project status: <strong>Concept<\/strong> \/\/ Prototype \/\/ Ready for market \/\/ Ready for series production<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-sans-serif has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Source: Peters, Sascha; Drewes, Diana: Materials in Progress. Innovations for Designers and Architects, Basel 2019, p. 35.<br\/>Image source: Frauenhofer-Institut <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Plastic-eating organisms Styrofoam decomposing mealworms While mealworms normally feed on wheat bran, biologists at Stanford [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":5756,"template":"","material_status":[1202],"material_category":[1409],"material_type":[2090],"material_food":[1189,2083],"material_topic":[2139,1411,2084,1575,2085,2110,1566],"class_list":["post-729856","material","type-material","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","material_status-concept","material_category-plastics-biopolymers","material_type-organic-origin","material_food-other","material_food-various-foods","material_topic-alternative","material_topic-biodegradable","material_topic-circular","material_topic-compostable","material_topic-non-packed","material_topic-waste-based","material_topic-zero-waste-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.2 (Yoast SEO v28.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>MILK. 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